Trump nominates Jared Kushner’s father for ambassador to France

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Businessman pleaded guilty to illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and witness tampering in 2005

Donald Trump has nominated Charles Kushner, a businessman who is the father-in-law of Trump’s daughter Ivanka, to serve as US ambassador to France, the president-elect said on Saturday.

Kushner, whose job requires Senate confirmation, is the latest of Trump’s picks to have close ties with the incoming president. Kushner’s son, Jared Kushner, is married to Ivanka Trump, and was a close advisor to Trump during his first presidency.

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Georgian president calls government illegitimate, claiming rigged election

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Salome Zourabichvili says she will not stand down as parliament is invalid, after PM halts EU accession talks

The Georgian president, Salome Zourabichvili, has called the country’s government illegitimate and said she would not leave office when her term ends next month, defying the prime minister as he accused pro-EU opposition forces of plotting revolution.

The South Caucasus country was thrown into crisis on Thursday when the prime minister of the Georgian Dream party, Irakli Kobakhidze, said it was halting EU accession talks for the next four years over what it called “blackmail” of Georgia by the bloc, abruptly reversing a long-standing national goal.

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Kosovo arrests eight linked to canal explosion as tensions with Serbia rise

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Pristina labels incident ‘terrorist act’ by neighbouring country, activating armed forces to prevent more attacks

Kosovo’s interior minister, Xhelal Sveçla, said on Saturday that police had arrested eight people after an explosion hit a canal that sends water to its two main power plants, an incident Pristina labelled a “terrorist act” by neighbouring Serbia.

Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vučić, denied what he said were “baseless accusations” about Belgrade’s involvement in the incident, which occurred about 7pm (6pm GMT) on Friday.

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World Central Kitchen workers killed by Israeli airstrike, Gaza health ministry says – NPR

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  1. World Central Kitchen workers killed by Israeli airstrike, Gaza health ministry says  NPR
  2. Israel Accuses World Central Kitchen Worker of Role in Oct. 7 Attack  The New York Times
  3. Israel kills Gaza aid workers from World Central Kitchen, Save The Children  Al Jazeera English
  4. World Central Kitchen workers killed by Israeli airstrike in Gaza, organization says  Yahoo! Voices
  5. Israel kills charity worker in Gaza saying he was Hamas militant  The Guardian
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‘We will fix our homes’: clean-up begins as Lebanon faces uncertain future

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Under-resourced army has job of ensuring Hezbollah’s compliance with truce while defending national territory

Mohammed Bzeeh spent the first hours of the ceasefire cleaning. After the Hezbollah-Israel agreement brought 13 months of fighting to a close last Wednesday, Bzeeh and his family arrived at their village of Zibqin in southern Lebanon to find their home ruined by an Israeli airstrike.

Bzeeh immediately set to work, the wiry 18-year-old hefting piles of concrete and metal scrap off his driveway using a rusty shovel. His family watched as he worked, overlooking the street that they had left two months earlier, now lined by the burnt-out husks of their neighbours’ homes.

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Zelenskyy says NATO offer for Ukraine-controlled territory could end ‘hot stage’ of war – The Associated Press

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  1. Zelenskyy says NATO offer for Ukraine-controlled territory could end ‘hot stage’ of war  The Associated Press
  2. Zelensky: I’ll give up Ukrainian territory to Russia to achieve peace  Yahoo! Voices
  3. Zelenskiy Open to Cease-Fire If NATO Protects Unoccupied Areas  Bloomberg
  4. Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin ‘open to nuclear tests’ as Zelensky discusses ending ‘hot phase of war’  The Independent
  5. Zelenskyy suggests 'hot phase' of Ukraine war could end in return for NATO membership if offered - even if seized land isn't returned immediately  Sky News
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After 50 years of mystery, siblings claim hijacker DB Cooper was their father

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Cooper’s whereabouts after he jumped from a plane with $200,000 stumped investigators. Has the case been solved?

It is one of the biggest mysteries in US criminal history: just what happened to DB Cooper, the man who hijacked an airplane before leaping out in mid-air with $200,000 in cash?

Now, more than 50 years later, the infamous crime may have been solved, after a pair of siblings came forward to claim they had found the parachute used in the hijacking, in their mother’s shed, and that Cooper was their father.

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Israel kills charity worker in Gaza saying he was Hamas militant

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Palestinian news agency reports that three employees of World Central Kitchen were killed in Israeli strike on vehicle in Khan Younis

The Israeli military has killed a charity worker employed by the World Central Kitchen in Gaza, saying the person targeted in the attack was a Hamas militant involved in the 7 October attacks.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that three employees of World Central Kitchen were killed when an Israeli strike targeted a civilian vehicle in southern Gaza.

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Russian police raid Moscow nightclubs in LGBTQ+ crackdown – The Associated Press

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  1. Russian police raid Moscow nightclubs in LGBTQ+ crackdown  The Associated Press
  2. Police In Moscow Raid Bars Over 'LGBT Propaganda'  Barron's
  3. Moscow Bars, Nightclubs Raided Amid Crackdown On LGBT Community  Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
  4. Russian police raid Moscow clubs, detain men for military service  defence-blog.com
  5. Russian police raid Moscow nightclubs over 'LGBT propaganda'  DW (English)
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Assisted dying: MPs who backed bill say concerns remain – BBC.com

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  1. Assisted dying: MPs who backed bill say concerns remain  BBC.com
  2. UK Lawmakers Vote to Legalize Assisted Dying After Emotional Debate  The New York Times
  3. British lawmakers give initial approval to bill allowing terminally ill adults to end their lives  CBS News
  4. Catholic bishops in UK express dismay after Parliament passes assisted suicide bill  Catholic News Agency
  5. Parties, cabinet and families split – and assisted dying bill still has a long way to go  The Guardian
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Inmates burn themselves in protest at ‘inhumane’ Virginia prison conditions

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Officials acknowledge prisoners have harmed themselves but say they did not set themselves on fire or self-immolate

Several incarcerated people in Virginia’s high-security Red Onion state prison have intentionally burned themselves in a protest against harsh conditions at the facility.

A written statement from Virginia’s department of corrections acknowledged that men imprisoned there had harmed themselves, although the authorities confirmed six incidents while others reported that 12 men were injured.

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Instagram actively helping spread of self-harm among teenagers, study finds

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Researchers say parent company Meta is failing to remove explicit images on the social media site

Meta is actively helping self-harm content to flourish on Instagram by failing to remove explicit images and encouraging those engaging with such content to befriend one another, according to a damning new study that found its moderation “extremely inadequate”.

Danish researchers created a private self-harm network on the social media platform, including fake profiles of people as young as 13 years old, in which they shared 85 pieces of self-harm-related content gradually increasing in severity, including blood, razor blades and encouragement of self-harm.

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‘Photographs did not do it justice’: King Louis XV’s magnificent rhino is star of new London exhibition

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After wowing the court of Versailles over 200 years ago, the jet-black beast is back in the spotlight at the Science Museum

King Louis XV’s rhinoceros was the star of the court of Versailles. Fed on a diet of bread, its tough hide was regularly massaged with oil. But it proved not an easy pet to keep and unfortunately killed two people who entered its enclosure.

Now, the magnificent beast, since stuffed and preserved, has left Paris for the first time since it arrived in 1770, travelling to London to take up a temporary place under the spotlight at the Science Museum in London.

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Saudi Arabia Leads Pushback Against Global Plastic Treaty – The New York Times

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  1. Saudi Arabia Leads Pushback Against Global Plastic Treaty  The New York Times
  2. International talks on curbing plastic pollution fail to reach agreement  The Guardian
  3. What to know about the plastic pollution crisis as treaty talks conclude in South Korea  The Associated Press
  4. UN plastic talks on verge of collapse in final hours  POLITICO Europe
  5. Indigenous Groups Call For Health Protections In Plastic Deal  Barron's
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